Topic: Everton 1 Liverpool 0 - post-match comments, analysis, reports

[The Bill Hicks Appreciation Society]

why oh why does diao get a game at all, you cant even say it's to put him in the shop window cos anyone interested aint gonna be anymore now they've seen him. and a couple of shots on goal and the odd well timed tackle doesnt mean he did okay, he was awful in my opinion.

Also everything good in the first half came through kewell which is an upbeat note on an otherwise grey day.

[Dave_W]

Playing Diao is probably the one selection which I have least difficulty in a game like this, I'm not his biggest fan but he can do a job in a game like this and was fully fit and rested.

Agree with this, having had a chance to reflect a bit - was slightly less enthusiastic when I heard the team sheet on Saturday when stood outside the ground!  Given that we all expected a 'blood and guts' derby game, picking Diao ahead of Alonso, who has gone missing in hard fought games already this season (unsurprisingly for a 'skill' player) and won't be used to playing two games a week yet, does make sense.

However, we had Everton on the back foot by the end of the first half and it hadn't turned into the battle it might have been , so, personally, I would have brought Alonso on for Diao at half time in an attempt to win the game.  Diao's tackling was great, but he gave the ball away time and again by aimlessly punting it up the pitch!!  The only thing I had a problem with was that by playing Stevie off the striker, we lost him for the battle in midfield, so it felt like he spent too much of the time out of the game.

In the end, I thought Everton just about shaded it, although we had the opportunities to get at least a point.  Fuck it - we're through to the knockout stages of the Champions League, have four of our next five at home, a winnable semi in the League Cup and an OK draw in the FA Cup (not that I'm taking anything for granted given our away form at the moment!).   

Hopefully we can scrap some funds together to buy a half-decent striker in January (no disrespect to Mellor or Pongo - feel fre to prove me wrong lads!) and hopefully at least one or two others as back up in other positions and, if we start winning away, we could see a proper bandwagon develop in the second half of the season (that's right folks, it ain't even half time yet!).

Keep the faith

[Jonathan Hall ☆☆☆☆☆☆]

Just read eleven pages and will comment on that rather than the game.

Rashid - you are the most fickle two faced so called Liverpool supporter i have ever ever come across.

Chris - LMAO of him finding out he was on tv.

Barney - nice Bullshit meter 

And if Pheeny starts banning members we'd have half the world banned from here 

[Rashid]

Just read eleven pages and will comment on that rather than the game.

Rashid - you are the most fickle two faced so called Liverpool supporter i have ever ever come across.

Chris - LMAO of him finding out he was on tv.

Barney - nice Bullshit meter 

And if Pheeny starts banning members we'd have half the world banned from here 

Because I think Josemi is not good enough and Riise is a shite left back? Give it a rest.. Rafa is world class... it does not mean we aren't allowed on a forum to air our views FFS.

[Jonathan Hall ☆☆☆☆☆☆]

Because I think Josemi is not good enough and Riise is a shite left back? Give it a rest.. Rafa is world class... it does not mean we aren't allowed on a forum to air our views FFS.

Yes, but your views change on a whim dependant on who is your wank fetish of the week. Give him and the new players a chance instead of being fickle as fuck, and people might bother to treat you with more respect, but i doubt you will ever have the patience for that.

[Rashid]

Yes, but your views change on a whim dependant on who is your wank fetish of the week. Give him and the new players a chance instead of being fickle as fuck, and people might bother to treat you with more respect, but i doubt you will ever have the patience for that.

I am not being fickle, nothing is being said about Diao and Riise (as a defender) that I haven't been saying for ages. Diao didn't do that badly but was awful on the ball, I thought we would have learnt our lesson after Fulham.... its frustrating as hell - a team can beat Arsenal and Olympiakos so convincingly, then Ranieri style tinkering and playing players we know can't hack it loses us the game.

[cornelius]

I know I had a bit of a moan yesterday but actually it is pleasing to see us finishing games a lot better. Obviously our new training methods are paying off. We may have been a little tired yesterday but they went to the end and once the squad is back up to strength I don't see fatigue being a problem at all.

[Dan The Man]

The game I thought to be honest was a pretty dreadful one. We didn't play particularly well but neither did they, in fact Ithought they were positively worse than us. In the first half thought we hoofed the ball a bit too much with both the full backs pretty poor. We had chances to win and we had more than them. Sami and Carra were both excellent and deserved our man of the match the pair of them. Hyypia defended impecibly and Carra won all of his headers in the air and defended superb. I can only remember them havin three chances. One the Cahill header, the other the goal which was the worst shot of the game and just after there goal when Riise cleared off the line from Cahill. Thought LA BAMBA was brilliant in the second half it was winding the little shits in the park end up for ages and went on for like 15 minutes.

I think yesterday the game on wednesday took it out of us and also everton riding there luck considerably in the game. Gerrard looked a little off the pace, and at times I thought the crowd wound him up a little bit. Ah Well we will beat them 5-0 at Anfield anyway, hopefully with a new reinforced squad to choose from.

[Hugh]

Gutted really.

Game as a whole was fairly shite, shiter than most derbies. Team selection was in hindsight very wrong but I can understand Rafa's thinking behind it given Wednesday's exertions. He must surely realise now that certain players aren't up to it like Diao and must have some reservations about the purchase of Josemi but I don't doubt that he'll persevere for the time being.

No player played particularly well and Kirkland was unusually dodgy which was also worrying.

Above all I think the need for squad strengthening was highlighted well yesterday.

Doesn't dim the fierce pain from this though. We better fucking batter the bastards at Anfield and cut short this 12 point lead asap.

[DonkeyWan]

Think everyone is being a bit negative here. First off, we shouldn't have been as ked to play on a Saturday after a wednesday gaem (and we have a tuesday game coming and all). Rafa rested players, he probably needed to  (they are not robots you know). The game was a typically shite derby, but at least we looked up for it. Thought defensively we did well enough (cahill's incredible miss aside), though Josemis and riise struggled (josemi more so). Kilbane is a hard man to play against, but josemi was brushed aside too easily. In the midfield, I felt Diao tackled hard and covered ground well, but his distribution was poor. Hamann was off form, and I was surprised at this considering his enforced rest period. Gerrard was in and out of the game, as was Pongolle, but in fairness pongolle looked lively when he was attacking. Kewell was our best player in the first half, but was clearly beginning to tire by the second (long week). Mellor had one or two chances but never really unsettled their defence. What was claer from the game was the lack of options we have due to injury. No biscan, no baros, no cisse and a player I feel we have sorely missed, no garcia for gile and skill. Game could have gone either way (had Mellor's chance gone in, I'm sure the papers would be yammering on about 'gritty' Liverpool. As it stands, a team  cosnsisting of Houllier players (Carr, Hyppia, riise, gerrard, kewell, Hamann) and Houllier subs (pongolle, diao, mellor, Kirkland) almost outfought an inform Everton side, at Goodison, after a midweek CL game. Personally, I was reasonably happy with the performance. For all those crying about our position in the table vis - a -vis Everton, please look at the home and away fixture list. Pool have played 7 times at home, winning 6 and losing only to Birmingham City, in a tavesty of a match. best home record in the division in fact. Our away record has been bad, but look at who we have played away (from memory). Chelsea, United, Everton, Boro, Bolton, Villa and spurs come to mind (in fact we have played away 9 times this season) . Everton have yet to play the really tough away games and their wimbeldonesque style of play and the energy required to do so will see them coming unstuck in the second half of the seaon, in all likelyhood.

[singaporered]

Why did Baros not play???
he would have caused their 2 CBs huge problems with his pace.

[fudge]

  News 

Everton 1, Liverpool 0 (D, Post) Dec 13 2004

Andy Hunter At Goodison Park
 
AN HOUR after the final whistle and the sound of jubilation was still pouring through Goodison's windows.

"Bloody hell, listen to that," remarked David Moyes as he halted his final press conference to savour the moment. "That is what this means."

Moyes was right to leave it to Everton's vocal supporters to underline the significance of their first local triumph for five years.


Fucking hell it must have been the early kick off then because their "vocal supporters" were silent for 70 minuters. Did they think it kicked off at 1.45?